By OkayGoal
BBC Sport has launched the BBC Women’s Football YouTube channel for the 2026/27 season, promising up to eight-minute highlights of every WSL match alongside original formats, interviews and analysis. The launch comes as the BBC discontinues The Women’s Football Show, its weekly highlights programme that had aired since 2013, with the new channel positioned as its digital replacement rather than a simple addition. That matters because it gives fans a dedicated, easy-to-find home for match action and behind-the-scenes content, part of a wider push for accessible coverage that She Kicks has tracked in its look at Channel 4’s WAFCON 2026 coverage.
BBC expands its digital women’s football coverage
The channel launched on 2 September 2026 alongside the existing BBC Women’s Football TikTok account, and it sits next to a new post-match programme, The Women’s Football Fallout. The 15-minute show will run on BBC iPlayer, YouTube and the BBC Sport website and app, hosted by that week’s match presenter with pundits including Ellen White, Fara Williams, Anita Asante and Steph Houghton.
Alex Scott will lead BBC’s presentation of the WSL this season, alongside Jeanette Kwakye, Sarah Mulkerrins and Betty Glover. The YouTube channel will also carry visualised segments of the Women’s Football Weekly podcast, hosted by Ben Haines alongside Ellen White, plus a new series called The Debrief, launching on 2 September with Chelsea’s Katie McCabe and Erin Cuthbert. Existing formats such as Confession Cam, Eat and Yap and The Tooney & Russo Show continue too. On the live side, BBC Sport will show 25 WSL matches on BBC TV and iPlayer this season, opening with Chelsea v Aston Villa on Saturday 5 September at 12:35 on BBC One and iPlayer, timing that lands amid growing scrutiny of the league’s structure, as covered in She Kicks’ report on the Subway Players Cup format and player welfare.
Alex Kay-Jelski: ‘a major step forward’ for coverage
According to BBC Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, BBC Director of Sport, framed the launch as part of a wider strategy rather than a standalone add-on.
“The launch of the BBC Women’s Football YouTube channel is a major step forward in how we’re covering the game, offering audiences exclusive access, new formats and highlights from every WSL match,” Kay-Jelski said. “Combined with our live television coverage, radio commentary, digital reporting and social content, we’re creating a year-round destination for women’s football. With the FIFA Women’s World Cup on the horizon, we’re investing in the game and bringing audiences closer to the action every step of the way.”
The BBC has framed the discontinuation of The Women’s Football Show as an evolution in how content is delivered rather than a reduction in commitment, pointing to viewing figures for the linear TV show that had not grown last season. The show had been co-funded by WSL Football, which is understood to be satisfied with the BBC’s assurances around its enhanced digital offering. Reports also suggest a separate new YouTube chat show fronted by Alex Scott, in the style of Gary Neville’s The Overlap, is being planned, though the BBC has not confirmed this specifically.
The emphasis on broadcasters and analysts building a bigger platform for the women’s game echoes a pattern She Kicks has followed elsewhere, including the recognition given to figures like Karen Carney for her broadcasting influence.
A broader push across live, on-demand and social platforms
According to BBC Sport, fans can follow the WSL live and on demand across television, iPlayer, the website and app, radio and social platforms, with highlights and key moments from the WSL and UEFA Women’s Champions League appearing across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X. Women’s Football Weekly stays on BBC Sounds every Monday, with visualised segments now added to YouTube each Tuesday.
The BBC confirms that coverage will build across the season towards the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will be shown live across the BBC. More programming is still to be announced.
Source: BBC Media Centre
